


my heart is beating so fast (can you hear it?)

by orphan_account



Series: jaemin and jeno vs the world [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, College now?, Confession, High School AU, Jaemin is just, Jeno is good boy, M/M, Neighbors, One Shot, One-Sided Attraction, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, idk what this is, imagined dreamies as cali asians, jaemin and jeno seem to meet in the worst circumstances, living jaemin is living
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23832499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jeno flinches and quickly backs to the corner of the bathroom. Well, maybe he is fucking drunk because he has to be out of his mind to think the bathtub is talking. The blue of the curtains gets crumpled under the rustling of the intruder, a couple more groans emit from behind the curtain and finally he sees the person stand up.Or Jeno and Jaemin vs several unfortunate events that push to keep them together
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: jaemin and jeno vs the world [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717255
Kudos: 21





	my heart is beating so fast (can you hear it?)

**Author's Note:**

> i am... not sure what this is... and it is so rushed... too many ideas in my brain.. i love nomin

Na Jaemin was Jeno’s best friend in middle school. Having previously been homeschooled all his life, Jaemin being introduced to the chaos of high school was the biggest culture shock of his life. Jeno’s mom had always loved helping out her community, she loved being viewed as a good person and if making Jeno befriend the neighborhood weirdo kid would do the trick then so be it. But Jeno never really viewed Jaemin as a weirdo. Yes, Jeno was forced to talk to the new homeschooled kid and show him the ropes of public school. But it’s not like Jeno would’ve ever refused, Jaemin, underneath the beginning surface of loud, was truly a “cool dude” (Jeno’s words) and Jeno began to see him as one of his best friends. 

Until he didn’t. 

He’s not sure when it happened. But Jeno had always wondered about a lot of things. Things concerning his supposed best friend: Na Jaemin. He's also not sure when it started. Somewhere near his pubescent hormonal phase where everything he saw was just oh, so sexy. Jeno wondered what it would feel like for Jaemin to have a boyfriend. Someone that he was close to that wasn’t Jeno. Jeno also wondered what it would feel like; what it would feel like to see Jaemin happy, in a relationship, sharing memories together with someone. Through all this thinking, the horrid thoughts that clouded his mind, that Jeno realized he wanted to be that someone. That the idea of Jaemin with anyone else that wasn't him was absolutely terrible. He realized that he liked Jaemin, he liked him a lot. But Jaemin was always so out of reach, constantly doing the most to the point Jeno was scared Jaemin would tire himself out. Though, that's probably what he admired most in him. 

Or maybe it was junior year, after grad night, seeing Jaemin in a tux with Hannah Xu. They had all joined together at Jeno’s house, his mom making everyone gather around his stairs in their dresses and formal wear, taking pictures with the biggest smile on her face. Maybe it was at that moment that reality hit him a little too hard. Seeing everyone with a date and he was alone, just him and Cal being single and having the time of their lives at grad night with no date. Renjun had joked that they could go together and Jeno had laughed it off, that's what you're supposed to do right? But it didn’t bother him, Jeno liked to think. Seeing Jaemin with Hannah and seeing her pin his boutonniere onto his navy blue suit jacket. Seeing his smile, his hair styled perfectly, seeing the corsage Jaemin bought that Jeno helped him pick out. Jaemin had had an epic panic at the florist shop. Maybe it was the accumulation of all these emotions, all these ‘seeings’ that finally caused the explosion of what was deemed the worst night of Jeno’s life.

Jeno never really held his emotions in. He prided himself on being able to talk about how he’s feeling thanks to his incredible support system. Next to Jaemin, and currently number one on Jeno's best friend list would be Renjun. Huang Renjun, standing a little over 5’8, he’s all talk and absolutely no bite. Jeno confided in Renjun whenever he could, trusting him enough to bear his feelings, yet some emotions are truly just meant to be kept to oneself. The feelings Jeno has for Jaemin, as an example. It wasn’t an obvious thing, Jeno liked to think that he was sneaky enough to keep his feelings on the down-low. But after years of emotions filling up Jeno’s bottle of a brain with these hidden emotions, it was evident there would be an overflow. 

It was after grad night and Jeno had already planned on leaving early from the beginning. After several hours of dancing and witnessing Renjun try to moonwalk across the dancefloor, Jeno was tired. He wasn't quite sure what he was tired from, witnessing his best friend he liked oh, so much dance with someone that wasn't him, or maybe he was tired from having to bear with the awful music. Either way, they both made his head ache. 

He goes over to the table where Jaemin and Hannah are together, her feet started hurting so she stopped dancing. Jeno rolls his eyes. 

He taps Jaemin's shoulder, “I think I’m gonna leave,” He scans the dancefloor and catches Renjun’s eye, he makes an “I’m leaving” motion, turning to Jaemin he continues, “It’s getting late, I think my mom wants me home.”

Jaemin checks his watch and looks up, “It’s only ten? Can’t you stay?”

Jeno stutters and looks over to where Hannah is adjusting her shoe strap, he shakes his head, “Sorry, don’t want to upset my mom… you know how she is.”

“But we were gonna go to In and Out after if you still want to stay?” Jaemin tries to convince him,"I'll pay," he puts his hands on Jeno’s shoulder and looks at him. Jeno blushes.

“I-I-I don't think I can,” Jeno murmurs, he looks up at Jaemin and sees the smudge of lipstick on his lips, “I’ll see you tomorrow okay?” He smiles. 

He slips away from Jaemin and picks up his phone from the table they were sharing. His car keys move around in his pocket and he can feel Jaemin’s eyes linger on him as he walks away and out the doors. It’s nighttime and Jeno forgets where he parked his car. He huffs and notices that he can see his breath in front of him as he walks around the parking lot. He didn’t want to leave. God, if he could have stayed the whole night with Jaemin he would have. But it felt like he was drowning, noticing things no one else would about Jaemin. The fact Jaemin was so nervous Hannah wouldn't like the corsage he picked out he picked the skin off his fingernails. The way Jaemin slowly blinked at her as she stepped out in her dress. Everything was a mess and Jeno couldn’t handle it anymore. His feelings were out of whack and his mind was racing. Jaemin looked so perfect, so handsome. And Jeno might as well have had a big neon sign above his head pointing out the fact he was staring, because the only time Jaemin noticed him was when he was staring. He would give him odd looks and make odd faces back and Jeno thought he was joking. His heart fluttered. His body was so hot and staying in the stuffy theatre made everything worse, he drank around six cups of punch as a way to calm down but just ended up needing to go to the bathroom. Jasmine from his APUSH class asked him to dance, and he accepted. Jaemin smiled at him as he danced with her, he ended his smile with some crude gesture. God, I hate him, Jeno thinks. 

He finds his car and opens the trunk, taking off his suit jacket and stuffing it in the back. Then, footsteps behind him cause him to turn around, seeing Jaemin wide-eyes and Hannahless. 

“Bro,” Jeno mutters, “You scared me, oh my god”

“Scared you? Why’d you turn around so quickly!” Jaemin exhales, he’s grasping his chest and rests his hand on the trunk of Jeno’s car and lets out a breath. 

Jeno rolls his eyes, “You’re dramatic,” He furrows his eyebrows together and stares at Jaemin,” Why are you out here?” 

“It’s stuffy in there isn’t it?”Jaemin ignores, he looks up at the sky. 

Jeno awkwardly laughs,”Yeah…” He notices Jaemin’s avoidance of his question but answers anyways, “I had to get out of there” 

Jaemin takes a deep breath, as if he’s preparing himself for what he’s about to say, “Are you..”Jaemin trails off and steps closer to Jeno,”Are you okay, Jen?” And there it was. 

”Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” He takes one step back noticing their closeness. 

Jaemin sighs, “It’s just-, You ran out of there really quickly, I just thought something… happened, maybe?” 

“Nothing happened, but thank you though,” Jeno looks off to the side in order to avoid eye contact. He taps his fingers against the trunk of the car, “Maybe you should go back inside,” Shouts emit from the theater and Jeno smiles gently, “I wouldn’t want you to miss anything,”

“I’m more worried about you then missing Cal start the next mosh pit,”

Jaemin laughs, “Are you sure you’re okay though?”

“I’m fine, really, go back inside!” Jeno laughs.

Jaemin asks him again one more time, except he loses his joking charm and acts sincere , ”Jen, I know you, what’s bothering you?”

Jeno huffs, leaning against his car he rubs his hands across his face, Jeno would never actually tell Jaemin what’s going on, “I guess there’s something,” he looks over to Jaemin, “But I can’t tell you,”

“Tell me?” 

Jeno shakes his head, “I can’t,”

Jaemin, stunned, slowly repeats Jeno’s words, “You… can’t tell..me?” Jaemin stares at him and raises his eyebrow, “Why?” 

“It’s complicated, I think,”

“You think?” Jaemin wonders, “Jen, what’s going on?”

Maybe it was the way Jaemin was staring at him, or how perfect he looked tonight. How amazing it felt to be outside alone with Jaemin. There was nothing intimate going on between them, but Jeno felt so close to Jaemin whenever they were alone together. But everything becomes overshadowed by the fact Jaemin thinks nothing of it. He came out here as a courtesy, checking on his friend to make sure he’s doing okay. Jeno adores Jaemin for that. 

“Something’s just been on my mind lately,” Jeno groans, “It’s really nothing to worry about!” 

“Then what is it?” 

“I can’t say!” Jeno retorts. 

“Why?” Jaemin asks. 

Jeno sighs again, he unlocks the car and walks over to the driver’s door, “It’s nothing,” Jeno whines, “Now, I’m just gonna go,” he points to the theater doors and motions his finger down to the door,”And you should go too” 

“I just don’t get why you can’t tell me?” Jaemin reasons, he reaches for Jeno’s shoulder and Jeno flinches at the touch. 

“Why does it matter?”, Jeno crosses his arms over his chest, “Why do you want to know so bad?” 

Jaemin is silent, he’s not sure why it matters. He doesn’t know why he wants to know so bad. Jeno takes Jaemin’s silence as an answer and he opens the car door. 

Jaemin breaks the silence,“If we’re friends I want to know why something’s bothering you.” 

He looks up. And Jaemin just looks so sad. His dyed hair is styled and he’s wearing chapstick, Jeno can tell. His lips always get so dry when it’s cold. Jeno sees how confused Jaemin is with the fact Jeno won’t tell him what’s wrong. And for a second there, Jeno almost considers telling him, just so he can see him not so sad. For a second he considers it, and right now he’s actually doing it. 

Jeno takes a deep breath, “It’s you,” Oh god. He’s said it, Jeno thinks. He said it and it’s out there. Maybe someone spiked the punch and that’s why he’s acting so bold, or he’s simply just so tired of holding this in. But the mood seems so right and the night is so perfect that he can’t help himself, he needs to spit it out. 

“Me?” Jaemin breathes, he reaches out for Jeno but Jeno steps back, Jaemin’s hurt at the action and Jeno recognizes that. 

Jeno nods, “You.” 

Jaemin nods his head, as if he’s trying to process the words that just came out of Jeno’s mouth. What did he do? 

Jaemin can’t help but rack his memories, thinking of all the possible situations he could have done or said something, “Did I… say something?” Jaemin was gonna cry, he was always so sensitive. Jeno didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. 

“No, no nothing. You didn’t say anything actually, I-” Jeno stammers.

“Then what?” Jaemin asks. Jeno has no response though, he’s staring at a blue pebble on the ground and his eyes can only seem to focus on that blue pebble. He can’t look up, he can’t look at Jaemin. This was it. The moment, the time. Jeno had spent all of high school hiding this from one of his best friends and it was all about to be exposed because of a stupid school dance. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen after, but he’s made it this far and something inside him says he cannot back down now.

Jeno gets the courage and looks up, he takes a deep breath and says it, “I like you,” he says, “I think. In that way.”

It’s quiet for a few minutes. Jeno kicks the pebble around on the ground and he stares at it, hard enough that it could explode from the intensity of his stare. Jaemin makes no attempt at responding and Jeno knows he’s made no movements because of the way his feet haven’t moved from the spot in front of him. The awkward tension between them thins out even more, and the buzzing of the parking lot light rings above their heads.

“You like me,” Jaemin finally responds. 

“Yeah.”   


“Like more than,” He trails off, ”More than just a friend?” 

“Yeah.” Jeno whispers, “More than just a friend,” he can’t seem to make his voice any louder. 

Jaemin nods, “Oh,” 

“Oh?” And Jeno’s crying. He doesn’t want to be here, he wants to curl up in a ball or jump in a hole. Anything else then being here in front of Jaemin, professing his love like they’re in middle school. His heart shatters into a million pieces and he feels like if he doesn’t get away now he might pass out. They stand there like that, in silence, for around five minutes. He can’t stay here. He's not mad at Jaemin, he wouldn't know how to react either if your best friend confesses their undying love for you in the parking lot of some dingy theatre. But he had expected a reaction, anything. Anything to get his mind off the fact he said the words that he said and now he could not take them back. Maybe if he plays it as a joke, "I got you Jaemin! You really fell for that one huh?". But this is real life, with real people and Jaemin is still standing in front of him saying nothing. 

Through tears, Jeno opens the door to his car, he turns to Jaemin, “I’m gonna go.” Still no response. Jaemin doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t know what to do or how to form any response that wouldn't hurt Jeno. Jeno, his best friend. But Jeno can’t handle this anymore, his heart is two seconds away from bursting out of his chest and his mouth runs dry. He gets in and starts the engine. He wipes the tears off his cheeks and puts the car in reverse. Jaemin still has some sense in him as he steps to the side to allow Jaemin to back out. The ride back home is quiet, traveling along the road. It’s the end of senior year and everyone is excited, happy to have ended school. And Jeno, well Jeno is sitting in his car in silence: heartbroken.

Jeno can take rejection. He had gotten rejected by so many people in high school. He's not embarrassed that Jaemin rejected him, he's embarrassed at the fact that it was Jaemin who rejected him. 

Jeno is a sucker for rom-coms. He read them constantly when he was younger, he viewed Jaemin as his male lead and he was the other lead fantasizing over him. But as life went on and Jeno had to go to college, he forgot about Jaemin. Solely based on the reason that he needed to move on, or at least that's what he would constantly tell himself. Jeno kept going and so did life. Inevitably it had to be like that. He found himself a job, and was doing so well in school. His mother would be proud of him. He was doing so well, so why is it that at every single inconvenience, Na Jaemin finds a way to wriggle his way back into Jeno's life. 

Renjun had pointed it out before too, how Jaemin always seems to appear in places that Jeno would least expect. Almost as if he's taking him off guard, like he's trying to find the right moment to observe Jeno and then pounce! But Jaemin never pounces, he cares for Jeno too much to ever do anything to hurt him. 

Meeting number one had to purely be coincidental. Jeno assumes Chenle had made his party open invite, judging by the mass amount of people in the living room and on the balcony. Renjun had definitely advertised it to Jeno as a cool, relaxed get together with a couple of pals. It was not.

"God this party is awful," Jeno mumbles under his breath, he stumbles through the hallways, not necessarily because he’s been drinking but more because of the several pairs of shoes strewn across the hallway acting like roadblocks. He nudges a pair of Birkenstocks out of his path and trudges into the last door on the right: a bathroom.</p>

Finally, he thinks, opening the door and getting away from the noise of Cal’s intense foosball game yelling. Renjun had told him that “no one would actually ever go to one of Chenle’s parties''. He had convinced him after several pleads and guilt trips that he had to go. And although this was just supposed to be a 'small kickback', Chenle had to invite all his annoying Model UN friends. They were all downstairs circled around the glass table littered with chip bags. Jeno had walked in on them discussing their fake peace treaties or alliances, or whatever the fuck they talk about and decided it was time to leave. 

“Last time I listen to Renjun, I swear” Jeno mumbles, opening the door and flicking the switch on. There’s a white cabinet to his left filled with soaps and toilet paper. He ignores it and flicks the lid down on the toilet and sits. God, my head is pounding. The music is horrendous, Donghyuck should never be allowed to DJ ever again. Jeno rubs his eyes with his hands, getting up and heading to the sink. He raises his head to the mirror. Black hair. He picks a strand of hair in between his fingers. Blond? Jeno’s last ex told him he’d look good in blond. Maybe he should dye his hair tomorrow, Jeno thinks. Maybe he’ll ask Hyuck to buy the dye at CVS and he can have another mid-semester crisis, which results in a change of hair color.

The doorknob jiggles and Jeno whips his head to the door, ”Um, occupied?” The handle keeps jiggling and Jenos eyes narrow in on it, is this person dumb? He scoffs under his breath and looks up at the mirror.

“Bro- your bathrooms fucking broken man!” A voice appears from the other side of the door. Jeno snorts. Cal. Of course. 

“Cal just take a shit in the other one or something!” Definitely Renjun. 

He hears Chenle approach and start to jiggle the handle, “Noooo god no, no shits in my house!” 

Jeno dries his hands with the blue hand towel and treads for the door, hand going to unlock it when from the bathtub he hears a groan followed by a voice saying, “Fuck man, let them be annoying don’t open the door” 

Jeno flinches and quickly backs to the corner of the bathroom. Well, maybe he is fucking drunk because he has to be out of his mind to think the bathtub is talking. The blue of the curtains gets crumpled under the rustling of the intruder, a couple more groans emit from behind the curtain and finally he sees the person stand up.

Jeno swears bad things never happen to him. He always does good things with the hope that the universe will return the favor. Yes, he may have thrown his gum on the ground last week. And yes, he saw a straw in the lake earlier that month but never went to pick it up. I wasn’t even the cause of those things! Jeno excuses, if it doesn’t involve him why bother fixing it! Why bother doing anything unless it directly affects you! So, the only outcome Jeno ever expects is good and he knows that his life will always consist of slightly above mediocre events occurring. He would enjoy it if his life bordered the boring and exciting line just enough to get a bit of both. Which, sounds reasonable when one takes into account that he’s standing in the middle of one of his best friends bathrooms, the doorknob jiggling profusely because god forbid these people to try and find another bathroom, and there’s Na Jaemin standing across from him in soaked khakis and a baby blue button-up. 

—————

“No fucking way,” Renjun says, the people in the library look over to the source of the sound and the hushed shushes of the librarian cause Jeno to blush in embarrassment.

“Shut up, Jun,” Jeno mutters, he rips the paper out of Renjun hands and reads it over for himself. The letter A sits at the top of the test, in its big red glory staring straight up at Jeno.

“Not the test- Jeno, you got it on with Na Jaemin?!” Renjun exclaims, his jacket wrinkled against the seat and the wrappers of cinnamon gum he keeps in his backpack falling out of his pockets, “That’s crazy, I thought you hated his guts after what happened in high school”

“I do not hate his guts,” Jeno says, he reads over the questions he got wrong and looks over to Renjun. Renjun smiles back at him and holds up his test, a C. Still passing, but not enough. Renjun pouts and shoves his paper under his math textbook. They’re sitting in the library, it’s around six o clock and Renjun had made Jeno promise not to tell him his midterm grade until they both met up and ordered their shared caramel macchiato. Jeno paying of course and Renjun proceeding to try and sneak their drinks in.

“And for the record Jun,” Jeno starts, “I didn't 'get it on' with him either. Why is that rumor going around?” he takes a sip of his coffee and sets the drink back down, “No one’s ever let me tell the full story yet. Everyone assumes because we walked out of the bathroom together, something happened! He’s weird! He was hiding in the bathtub”

“No one believes you because whenever Jaemin is asked about it he just smiles and walks away” Renjun laughs. His papers are all squished under his binder and there’s a brown coffee ring on his calculus homework. Jeno sighs and puts a napkin under the drink, wiping the bottom and putting his napkin on the side. 

“What did you do though, after you know,” Renjun nudges, “Seeing your kind-of ex in a bathtub,”

“Nothing?” Jeno shrugs, “There was and there is nothing to do, I don’t think he even recognized me?” 

Renjun scoffs,”You guys were friends for six years, and you’re telling me he didn’t know it was you?”

“I don’t think he even realized where he was,” Jeno says.

“I know Chenle became friends with some new people because of his Model UN club, I didn’t think it would be Jaemin though,” Renjun reasons. He shakes his head to the side and thinks. Jeno hums in agreement and takes another sip of his drink. He can’t help but wonder what Jaemin was doing there. Why was he in the bathroom? Such a weird spot to try and hide from the rest of the party. Renjun waves his hand in front of Jeno’s face and flicks his nose. Jeno looks over at Renjun in surprise and scowls, he rubs the spot he got hit and looks over at Renjun. What a little devil.

“Hm?” Jeno hums, as he brings his hand up to his nose. Renjun sighs, “I asked if you were good,” Renjun eyes him, ”Spacing out again?” 

“Yeah, you know how it gets after all this studying,” Jeno takes another sip of his drink and peers out the window. Noticing it's getting late he says, ”Plus, it’s getting dark. What time were you planning on going home?” 

Renjun raises an eyebrow and ignores his question, “Is the Jaemin thing bothering you? If he said anything to yo-”

“It’s not bothering me,” Jeno interrupts,” Jus-just a lot on my mind” Jeno smiles lazily at Renjun.But he thinks of Jaemin. Jaemin in the frat boy bathroom. Jaemin soaked with bathtub water. Gross, Jeno thinks. Jaemin who stood in front of him with a bucket hat, khakis, and a strange blue button-up. Did he hear Jeno pee? God, that would be so weird. Jeno had worked so hard to get Jaemin out of his mind. All of high school and half of his undergrad silently pushing him to the back of his mind, just for all of it to be ruined by one coincidental meetup.

“I think I’m done for today,” Renjun huffs. He leans back in his chair and stretches. 

“I can give you a ride if you would like?” Jeno offers, he picks up his bag from off the ground and moves it to rest on the seat next to him. 

“Nah, I’m good,” Renjun smiles, “Besides, I think my Mom wants me to pick up a couple things before I get home” 

Jeno nods and stands up. He opens the door for Renjun and nods to the barista at the counter to say goodbye. 

Renjun throws his bag over his shoulder and turns to face Jeno, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Jeno smiles in agreement, "Yeah," He waves, "See you tomorrow, Jun" \-----------------------   
Despite the circumstances of the first Jaemin incident, it wasn't that much of a memorable event for Jeno to even consider keeping in his mind. Jeno moved in with another friend of his named Lee Donghyuck, an economics major who partnered with Renjun on some project. Jeno hit it off quickly with the other boy and somehow the idea of them both needing a place found its way into their conversation. Now, meeting number two just sent Jeno completely off the rails. It started to get a bit suspicious to him how Jaemin always showed up when Jeno was at his worst. Somewhere in town, Jeno is begrudgingly being dragged along on an impromptu grocery shopping trip, having been told there would be “important roommate duties” at said grocery store. Jeno sighs and checks off milk on his shopping list. He looks over to see Donghyuck come up to the cart with another random item he grabbed off the shelf. 

“Hyuck, you can’t keep grabbing stuff and shoving it in the cart,” Jeno huffs, he reaches in and pulls out whatever it was that Donghyuck had snuck into the shopping cart and places it on the shelf next to him. 

Donghyuck pouts, “Why do we even have a list if you never follow it?”

“Ten packs of mini sausages are nowhere on this list,” Jeno holds the list up and moves it in front of Donghyuck’s face. 

Donghyuck rips the list out of his hand, “It probably was,” he argues, “You erase everything I write anyways” 

“Last time I checked, neither of us have Donghyuck’s list money,” Jeno says calmly, he pulls out his reusable bags and sets them on the conveyor belt.

“Next week I should grocery shop,” Donghyuck reasons. Jeno looks over to him and raises an eyebrow, “I bet I could save more money than you,” 

Jeno laughs and pushes a Trader Joe's bag into Donghyuck’s chest, “Yeah? I’m not too keen on surviving off of chocolate milk and ten packs of cheddar cheese” 

Donghyuck slides his card into the chip reader and inputs his pin,”You lactos are all talk, imagine not being able to eat cheese…” He looks away sadly, “I’m so sorry, Jeno” 

“Sorry? I wake up every morning without my stomach trying to shart it’s way out of my body, thank you very much” Jeno huffs. 

Donghyuck grimaces and places the filled grocery bags into the cart, “Aw bro, gross,” he shudders, “Too far.” 

Back at their apartment, the duo find Renjun inside, helping unpack some of the kitchen items that are sitting in the boxes. Renjun peers up from behind the counter, “Groceries?” Jeno, out of breath from carrying all the bags up the stairs, nods and sets them down on the counter. He moves to his room and starts bringing in his boxes from the living room to set in the corner. Renjun walks in and has a tube of paper in his hands, “I brought some posters you can hang up if you-” He stops and looks around Jeno’s room, noticing the mess of boxes, he gasps, “You can see your neighbors room from here!” 

Jeno looks over to where Renjun is peering out the window and glances, “Oh my god. Isn’t that a bit creepy?” He questions. The window gives a clear view of the apartment across the building’s room. He sees there’s a pile of boxes stacked in the room across the window as well. Moving in? Jeno thinks. 

Renjun agrees and hums, “Yeah. A bit odd.” He thinks for a second, “I'll get you some curtains,” 

Jeno snorts, “Thanks.” Renjun gets up from his spot on the floor and moves to Jenos bed, he plops himself down in the middle of the empty mattress and closes his eyes.

“Nap timeeee” He sings. 

Jeno goes over to the kitchen and begins helping Donghyuck put some of the groceries away. He works on the fridge and grabs all the dairy and vegetable products in the bags, working on fixing them onto the shelves. 

“Hey,” Donghyuck greets, he moves over to where Jeno is and ruffles his hair, “I heard what happened,”

Jeno groans, “Why is everyone making a big deal out of this? I’m not even bothered and I’m the one who got attacked by him!” 

Donghyuck laughs, “We’re worried about you, you haven’t talked about him in a while. Hell, you haven’t talked to him in a while either,” Jeno thuds his head against the fridge and rests his forehead against the door. It’s cold, he thinks. Nice. He opens his eyes slightly to see if Donghyuck is still staring at him and he is. He picks his head back up and stands up, Donghyuck standing with him. 

“I appreciate it, really,” He grabs onto Donghyuck’s shoulders and shakes him, “But today is our day and we are moving in together, I do not want to think about Jaemin” 

Donghyuck takes a step back and reluctantly sighs, “Okay,” Jeno raises his eyebrow at him, “I said okay!” 

Renjun steps out of Jeno’s room and rubs his eyes, “What are you guys yelling about?” 

“Did you even sleep?” Jeno snorts.

“No, guess why I couldn’t?” Jeno smiles and skips over to Renjun, throwing his arm around his shoulder and smiling, “Well, we’re talking about how you’re going to-“ He drumrolls against Renjun’s stomach and Renjun punches him on the shoulder.

“Ow,” Jeno whines, “Why?” 

Renjun ignores him and drags Jeno back into his room. He plops down on the bed again with his head hanging off the edge. 

“Your face is gonna get red,” Jeno points out. 

Renjun sticks his tongue out, “Your face is gonna get red,” He mocks Jeno. 

Jeno looks over to him, “Why is this all you do when you come over?” He retorts pointing a finger at Renjun’s form on his bed. Renjun sets the book he picked up from the stack in Jeno’s room down, “I like the aura of your room,” He points to the succulents in the corner, “So… basic, I love it” he muses.

Jeno rolls his eyes and peeks out the window again. across from him, he gets a perfect view of a room in the neighbor's house. He stares into it when suddenly the door opens and he sees a boy. He’s carrying more cardboard boxes and sets them down in a corner. The boy’s head perks up and notices Jeno, he widens his eyes and nonchalantly waves at Jeno from across the window. 

“Oh my god,” Jeno whispers. he shrinks down against the wall so he can’t be seen and puts his hands over his face. No other coincidence in the world could have prepared him for the situation he’s in right now. Jeno can’t believe his luck, out of every single person who could have been his neighbor it had to be Na Jaemin. Renjun perks up and stares at Jeno, “What?” 

“Jaemin” Jeno whispers, his mouth agape and staring at a blank space on the wall, “He saw me.” 

“What? Saw what?” A voice from outside the window causes both the boys to turn their heads. They both look at each other and Renjuns eyes widen.

“The neighbor?” Renjun mouths, he covers the side of his face with his hand and points over to the window. 

Jeno nods his head and scrambles to stand up, “Jaemin.” He mouths, Renjun’s eyes widen. 

“Are… you okay?” The voice from across the window speaks up. Renjun looks over to Jeno and they both exchange looks of panic. Jeno points at the window encouraging Renjun to go up to it. Renjun shakes his head and points at Jeno.

“Go!” Renjun seethes, he points frantically at the window.

“No! I’m scared!” Jeno whispers and points back at Renjun. 

Renjun smacks his hand on his head, “He’s looking at me!” he looks over to the window again, “Oh god he’s looking at me…” Renjun whispers.

“Say something!” Jeno mouths. 

Renjun continues to stare at him and shakes his head. He pushes Jeno forward but Jeno shoves his body off the bed and crawls away from the bed and the window. Renjun seethes and goes to grab Jeno again when they both hear a tapping against the window.

“Hello?” the boy says, he knocks against the glass of his window and Renjun looks over. He gives Jeno the death glare and mouths a, "You owe me".

“Hi! hi, yes,” Renjun says, he glares at the brown-haired boy in the corner, “Jaemin! Wow, hasn’t it been a while..” 

Renjun looks over to Jeno out of the side of his eye again, he motions Jeno to come over but he refuses, shaking his head and motioning him to continue. 

“Do you live here?” Jaemin asks Renjun. 

Renjun shakes his head, “No, no I don’t, I’m just visiting Jeno. He just moved in he-,” Jeno waves his hands in a no motion in front of Renjun, went to the bathroom, he mouths, “he… went to the bathroom” 

“Oh, I was wondering where he went, I could’ve sworn I just saw him!” Jaemin exclaims. 

Renjun chuckles uneasily, “Oh? Well, he’s in the bathroom,” he laughs again, “You know that… bladder of his”

Renjun motions for Jeno to stand up and he refuses one more time, swatting his hands across his face. Finally he gives in and walks over to the window and waves back, etching a smile onto his face. 

“Hi, Jaemin? Sorry I was…” Renjun pinches him again, “gone” He feels Renjun pinch his side. He looks over to the other boy and glares. Jeno feels Jaemin stare at something behind him and turns around. 

Oh god. Posters of SNSD, and millions of tattered, dusty ribbons from all his volleyball games, and dead plants he’s forgotten to water. He’s still cute, Jeno thinks, so cute. Black hair and brown eyes. Slender but firm build and he still can stand in the middle of the room radiating awkwardness. Jeno can’t help but stare at Jaemin, at his wiry glasses that sit perched on his nose, he notices the boxes labeled, “Jaemin’s stuff” in scraggly writing with cartoon stick figures around the panels. Jeno doesn’t know how he’ll be able to live here right across from Jaemin. All his weird habits of talking to himself or staring into space will have to be gone for he can’t have Jaemin noticing these things. Mark, Chenle, and Jisung coming over and going completely wild inside his bedroom. Of course, he could always get curtains, but why get curtains when the blinds already do enough covers? It just ruins his room's theme to add some chunky curtains as an attempt to try and conceal his personal activities. 

“Volleyball?” Jaemin points to the shelves.

Jeno nods, “You still play?”

“Nah, but my sister does” Jaemin nods. 

Jeno makes a sound of surprise and it falls quiet. Renjun stares at Jeno and motions him to continue the conversation. 

Jaemin nods to Renjun and points again, “You guys dating?” Renjun stifles a laugh and elbows Jeno. He looks over to his friend and makes a kissy face. 

“Oh god no,” Jeno gags. Renjun and Jeno look at each other, slightly offended but quickly brushing it off, Renjun says,” We’re just friends,” Jeno nods, “Yeah, best friends” 

A voice from outside catches Jaemin’s attention. His roommate, Jeno thinks. 

“Ah, well” Jaemin rubs his neck and waves again, “I guess I’ll just,” he points to the door. 

Jeno finishes his sentence for him,”Go?” 

Jaemin nods, “Yeah, I’m gonna go. it was nice seeing you-“ he pauses and points, “Renjun and Jeno.” 

Jeno smiles and waves back, going to close the window as a form of ending the conversation. He turns to face his room and lets out a breath of relief. 

“Do you know how awkward that was for me? I don’t even live here! and you have me introducing you to your own neighbors!” Renjun hisses at Jeno with far too much spit than necessary. Jeno raises a finger to his mouth and shushes him.

Jeno glares, “It was hardly an introduction, we know him already!” 

Renjun looks at him weirdly and pokes his cheek, “What are the odds, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” Jeno mumbles.

“So I noticed there’s another-” Donghyuck walks in and sees Jeno on the ground below the window and Renjun sprawled on the bed. He senses the shift in energy and raises his eyebrow, ‘What… happened here?”

“Jaemin,” Renjun deadpan.

“Jaemin?” Donghyuck asks. He only briefly knows of what happened between Jeno and Jaemin. Jeno, having told him after Donghyuck had begged him to answer why he was so weird after Chenle’s party. Jeno figured if they were moving in together then it would be inevitable that Donghyuck finds out. But now, they’re here. The three of them sitting in Jeno’s room shocked out of their minds because of one interaction with Na Jaemin. 

"God," Renjun wails, dragging the 'd' and shoves Jeno, "Why does that boy ruin everything!"

Jeno honestly cannot begin to comprehend how to feel about this situation. His ex-best friend turned crush moved in across from him two months after seeing him in a frat boy’s bathtub. Does this happen to normal people? Is Jeno just one of the exceptions of unfortunate events occurring or does the universe just hate him? 

Donghyuck gasps, “Is that Jisung?” He exclaims. 

“Jisung?” Renjun rushes to the window and peeks his eyes through the blinds. He points to the window and widens his eyes, ”Jisung’s his roommate!” He whispers to Jeno. 

Yup, Jeno thinks, the universe just hates him.

**Author's Note:**

> This was so BADDDD.. anyways.. goodbye.. i love jeno.


End file.
